It is equipped with complete machinery imported from China. Covering an area of 114,607 sqm, the factory, which has already started trial production, has the capacity to produce 42,000 tons of glass a year.
It also recycles used and broken glass. The factory was jointly established by two shareholders: CGC Overseas Construction Group Ltd and China-Africa Development Fund.
The company has a registered capital of 16 million dollars. When it starts full- fledged production, it will save Ethiopia a lot of foreign currency.
The factory will not only produce glass to meet local demand, but will also export it to countries in East Africa, Jason Jiang, deputy general manager, told the reporter.
The raw materials, dolomite, feldspar, silka sand and limestone are all locally purchased except for sodium carbonate which is imported from China.
The stones are ground in an underground mill before being transported through conveyors into the furnace. Inside the furnace, liquid propane gas, furnace oil and electricity combine to produce a blazing inferno for meting the crushed stones and sand and mixing them with sodium carbonate in a 1,5000c heat The furnace has cameras that feed video footages to computers in the control room where engineers monitor the temperature of the fire and the thickness of the glass.
On the other end of the furnace, crystal a sheet of glass slides out from between rollers and is then exposed to cool temperature until it becomes firm before being cut to sizes.
Mr Jiang told The Reporter that the company has a long-term plan to manufacture glass for vehicles.
In Ethiopia new glass factory enters market with capacity of 42,000 tons a year
Ethiopia Hansom International Glass PLC for producing sheets of glass is scheduled to be inaugurated tomorrow, two years after its construction started.